


Of All the Gin Joints in All the World

by 6paranoid6mystic6



Category: Life Is Strange (Video Game)
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Autistic Max, Break Up, Comedy, Drinking, Drunk Driving, F/F, Fluffy, Getting Together, Misadventures, Victoria is a successful photographer
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-10-24
Updated: 2015-10-25
Packaged: 2018-04-27 19:31:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,754
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5061175
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/6paranoid6mystic6/pseuds/6paranoid6mystic6
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Chloe Price finds herself drinking in a shitty bar on a Wednesday evening after her long-term girlfriend dumps her but her night takes an unexpected turn when an awkward photographer called Max walks into the bar asking about a secret art exhibition in the city. Chloe reluctantly agrees to help Max in the hopes of getting drunk at a fancy gallery. Drunken hi-jinks and flirting ensues. (heavily inspired by Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist).</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So the other night I was looking at some fanfics and one of them was about a character getting drunk and something angsty happened but I'd clicked on it because it was multi-chaptered and I'd thought it was about the character getting drunk and getting caught up in a misadventure that would take them all night and end up with them dating the character that joined them on it. I realised that I don't think I've ever really seen a fic with that premise before but I realised it was perfect for a pricefield au. The first chapter is a little depressing but it'll pick up from there. Characters will be added as they enter the story.

 To say Chloe Price was having a rough night would be a gross understatement. It was Wednesday night and the only people getting drunk in this bar were dodgy middle aged men who were teetering off of their stools. Chloe vaguely recognised the fact that most twenty two old women would be scared in this situation but she wasn’t. She couldn’t tell if it was the cocky attitude that had pervaded her entire life, the illusions of invincibility from drunkenness kicking in early or her current emotion of utter futility blocking out any concern she may harbour for herself.

 Chloe chuckled somewhat deliriously over the beer she was nursing. She didn’t know how she hadn’t seen it coming really. Rachel, her girlfriend (ex-girlfriend now), had been staying out longer without any convincing excuses. Chloe had been suspicious but she didn’t want to be the archetypal jealous girlfriend, surely that would have pushed Rachel away. Chloe had decided that she should just trust her girlfriend: why would Rachel cheat on her? It made no sense to Chloe.

 Just a few hours ago, Rachel had been at their shared apartment when Chloe had gotten back from her shift at _Best Buy_ (Chloe winced as she realised she was spending her entire pay check drinking her feelings away). Chloe had been surprised because Rachel had told her that she’d taken on extra classes for her law degree, something Chloe now knew to be a lie, but when Chloe had seen the look on Rachel’s face she’d realised something was wrong. Chloe had been so worried for Rachel, she looked so sombre, but then Rachel said sit down and the worry for Rachel was gone.

 After Rachel's confession, Chloe announced she would leave and packed all of her stuff immediately which was odd because it was her apartment. It was Chloe's name was on the lease. She supposed she’d just hoped Rachel would chase after her and say something like “I can’t bear to watch you go” but she’d just sat there, blank faced. Chloe had picked up anything Rachel had gotten for her and dumped it into a pile and told Rachel to do what she liked with it and not even that had elicited a response.

 Chloe hadn’t let herself cry or even look sad until she got into the elevator and when she did she fell to the floor and curled into a ball, crying inconsolably. She wasn’t sure if she’d stayed like that for three minutes or three hours.

 The bell that signified the door of the bar being opened rang and it was followed by light footsteps and for some reason Chloe thought it was Rachel who’d suddenly changed her mind about everything but it wasn’t. It was a petite brunette with a ‘Polaroid’ camera around her neck and dirty trainers. She was completely out of place in a bar like this.

 It was a rough, dim place. People in the bar smoked despite it being illegal and the bar staff’s response had been to put ashtrays out so that people would stop burning the furniture. The said burned furniture had not been replaced or repaired and many red faux-velvet couch covers had grey scars on them where they had meet the end of red hot cigarette butts. Chloe knew for a fact that there was a shotgun under the bar because she’d seen a barkeeper pull it out once when a fight between two belligerent drunks got out of control. Chloe asked him after if it was loaded and he just winked at her and went back to serving hard liquor to men with greying hair and sailor’s tattoos.

 Somewhere in the back of her head Chloe recognised that the brunette was cute but she was so deep in Rachel Amber wallowing that the thought never made it to the forefront of her mind and remained an intangible aftertaste which she would find completely alien to her in plain words. The brunette’s eyebrows were raised and her mouth hung open a little as she traced the room with her eyes. She noticed Chloe’s gaze and made a beeline towards her.

 “Excuse me,” the brunette began in a soft voice, “Is the, um, Victoria Chase exhibition here?”

 “The what?”

 “Uh, nevermind,” the brunette sighed and then turned back toward the door staring at it but not moving towards it. She muttered a defeated “shit” under her breath and stood there with her head hung low.

 “D'you want to sit down?” Chloe offered to be polite but she didn’t really want to open up her pity party to guests.

 “Uh, sure,” the brunette whispered, slightly flustered, and she settled down in the booth and sat facing Chloe, “My name is Max.”

 “Chloe,” Chloe returned with little enthusiasm and she took another swig of her beer. Max eyed Chloe’s large rucksack which occupied the space between Chloe and the wall the booth was attached to.

“Are you going on a trip?” Max asked.

Chloe shook her head and said: “It’s a long story,” lacking the frills and relish she would usually add when sharing exploits about her life.

 “I have time," Max insisted.

 “My… partner cheated on me and then dumped me,” Chloe said omitting the gender of her partner on purpose. It appeared that the realisation about “it’s a long story” meaning “I don’t want to talk about it” dawned on Max too late.

 “Sorry.”

 “Yeah,” said Chloe, “So why are you in this particular bar?"

 “Well, it sounds stupid but a girl from my high school, Victoria Chase is having a secret photography exhibition somewhere around here but I must’ve got down the wrong address. We were never really friends but I always admired her style and the exhibition looked really high profile so I thought maybe I could get some advice on how to be a better photographer... I don't really know why I'm telling you all this."

 “Nice fancy art exhibition outfit,” Chloe muttered before taking another sip of her beer only to find the bottle empty. Max looked down at her outfit and blushed.

 “These are my good jeans,” Max mumbled and Chloe found herself grinning at that a little.

 “So do you have the address to this party with you or what?” Chloe asked.

 “It’s an exhibition, not a party... Anyway, I thought I did but it must be wrong since I ended up here.”

 “Can I see it?” Chloe asked. Max paused and looked Chloe up and down before nodding and fishing the invitation out of her messenger bag then sliding it across the table to Chloe. The invitation was made out of a thick white card, the kind of high quality card people like the Kardashians would probably use to send out for a wedding invitation. Rachel would probably quip a joke about someone spending a lot of money on a tree corpse in her typical eco-warrior way.

 “About this address,” Chloe began, “This bar is in Wood Street, an outskirt of the inner city. This address corresponds to the centre.”

 “I think I know what I did,” Max began, her voice thoughtful and contemplative, “See I asked someone for directions and they said to go past a statue of a horse and keep going left and I did but I walked straight past the horse statue through a lane and went left. Maybe I was supposed to go past the horse down the road and then turn left.” Chloe nodded and murmured along with the story, playing the part of the attentive listener. After finishing her story Max continued to look at Chloe, her fingers twisting the strap attached to her camera around her fingers.

 “You want me to take you there don’t you?” Chloe sighed. Max nodded eagerly. Chloe contemplated it for a minute, spend the rest of her night feeling sorry for herself and drinking away her feelings and money or get some good karma and help someone else out. Maybe Max would let Chloe into the exhibition, the invitation mentioned a plus one, and she could shove mini-quiches into a plastic bag and drink bubbly champagne in fancy crystal glasses. “Fine.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whilst I generally write stories that are often bizarrely dark in tone and light hearted at the same time I can't help but wonder if I'm that good at writing a story thats supposed to be more light hearted.  
> Also don't drink and drive.

 After sliding her cropped jacket on, Chloe rummaged around in her rucksack, looking for her car keys. They should have been on the top of her stuff but Chloe supposed it was possible that the keys may have slid down amongst the rest of her junk.

 “What are you doing?” Max asked as she gripped her bag strap tightly in her hand.

 “Looking for my car keys,” Chloe responded.

 “Should you really be driving?” Max asked.

 “I only drank like two to four beers,” Chloe responded nonchalantly but Max seemed unconvinced, “I’ll just have to keep my eyes on the road.” Chloe had started taking things out of her bag (flannel t-shirts, pairs of jeans, etc. etc.) and placing them on the table in order to get more room to search for her keys. She emptied her rucksack on auto-pilot as she searched for them.

 “Uh, I don’t think you should take that out,” Max stammered and Chloe paused just in time to notice that she had begun pulling her bras out of her bag. She glanced at Max who had turned bright red and was avidly avoiding the table. Chloe found herself laughing again.

 “Whoops,” she sniggered and starting shoving her bras back into her rucksack, “At least I didn’t pull my vibrator out instead.” Max made a noise like a gasp and a laugh being choked on and stifled which amused Chloe to no end but the light relief ended when Chloe realised she couldn’t find her car keys. Chloe patted the pockets of her jeans and jacket but she couldn’t find them. She began rubbing her hands on the couch she’d been sat on and delving her fingers into any crevices in the couch that the keys may have slipped into but alas there were no keys to be found.

 “Fuck,” Chloe angrily muttered under her breath.

 “What is it?”

 “I can’t find my keys.”

 “Have you checked your pockets?” Max asked.

 “Yes,” Chloe snapped but actually put her hands in her pockets this time and heard a metallic rustling and her eyes widened, “Found them.”

 But when Chloe actuallt fished the metallic object out of her pocket she found it was actually a singing fish keychain. It was one of those novelty plastic plaques people had in their houses that looked like a taxidermy fish but it was obviously plastic and fake and when you pressed the button it would sing a song, except this one was tiny and a keychain. Max bit her lip and nodded as she stared at the novelty item with wide eyes. The air was silent except for the metallic creaking of the chain as it swayed back and forth from loop the item was attached to which was hooked on Chloe’s finger.

 “Why do you have that in your pocket?” Max asked, taking great care not to burst into a fit of laughter.

 “I don’t know,” Chloe confessed breathlessly, her eyes beholding the ridiculous plastic fish with the same awe as Max. Chloe pressed the button on it and a crackled but jaunty song played as the mechanic fish flopped its head and tail around. At this point the sheer oddity of the keychain had given Max no other option than to break out into a fit of giggles and Chloe found herself chuckling at her own pain. Deciding that the keys couldn’t possibly be anywhere in the scary bar and that if they were they were probably gone for good, Chloe decided to make a move and leave. It was already dark out and the moon glowed brightly in the sky.

 This particular area of the city was regarded as a dangerous one with broken bottles on the pavement and drunken arguments between couples ending in fist fights on street corners. Retrospectively, Chloe questioned why she had taken Rachel here so many times for date night. She’d always thought Rachel had quite liked living on the edge like Chloe had done but thinking about it, Rachel was actually far more interested in security than risk taking. It had been shown by her proud status as a high school valedictorian, her dedication to schoolwork and her decision to become a lawyer instead of a model. Max also seemed nervous in this area and Chloe felt a little guilty that she hadn’t really wanted to help the poor girl out.

 Chloe had a rusty pickup truck and she had chosen to keep a spare car key in the bed* of it. Chloe didn’t really have anything else kept in the bed of the truck other than some cardboard boxes and scrap parts that she would occasionally pass off to Brooke, a girl with a love of engineering Chloe had met at university before dropping out, or her friend Justin who worked as a mechanic but fancied himself a repairman.

 Chloe could generally be considered a reckless person. She was the kind of person who always found themselves driving over the speed limit and shoplifting the odd small item or two whenever they ended up in a corner shop buying cigarettes. Max, however, discovered this fact when she realised that Chloe kept the key to her car hanging around in the back of her car with nothing more than tarp and a few pieces of metal and cardboard protecting it. Of course, because it appeared that these women were simultaneously having the unluckiest night of their lives, the back of Chloe’s car had been ransacked. The tarp had been pulled up and the rain had started to pour whilst Chloe and Max had been in the bar. A few pieces of scrap remained but would obviously be corroded. The cardboard boxes were completely ruined.

 “Why would anyone want to steal my garbage?” Chloe grumbled as she hopped onto the back of her truck to sift through the junk for her key.

 “What are you doing?” Max asked, because she was not yet aware of Chloe’s bizarre hiding place for her spare key.

 “Looking for my key,” Chloe responded distractedly, more focused on moving old parts of hi-fi systems and VHS players out of her way so she could find the key. She did move look up when she heard a click and saw a flash of light, thinking that it might be lightning but she then realised that Max had taken a picture of her.

 “You should probably ask people before you take pictures of them.”

 “Sorry, I usually take photos on instinct,” Max admitted as she grabbed the photo and put it in her bag immediately.

 “Can I at least see it?” Chloe asked.

 “If you’re planning on staying with me for an hour,” Max replied and then she approached the side of the truck.

 “I didn’t know you wanted to keep me around so badly,” Chloe smirked.

 “It’s not that,” Max demanded, lookeing over Chloe’s shoulder instead of at her, “It just takes that long for the picture to develop.”

 “I thought those things developed instantly.”

 “I think they used to but the development of the original film was discontinued so the film I use is someone’s attempt at recreating it but it’s not that great. Also it’s really expensive too.” Chloe nodded and started to sift through her garbage again.

 “Not to rush you or anything but do you know how much closer you are to finding the key, Standing in the rain isn’t a particularly enjoyable experience.”

 “Well you could help me find the key,” Chloe rebuked. Max eyed the back of the truck and, despite fear of getting tetanus from all of the rusting metal, opted to help Chloe. She tried to climb up but found it more difficult than Chloe had and in the end found that she required help from Chloe to actually get in the back.

 “Can you help pull me up?” she asked.

 “Sure,” Chloe responded and took hold of Max’s hand and helped to guide Max safely into the truck. Max noticed that Chloe very quickly let go of her hand once she had actually gotten safely into the bed of the truck. Chloe herself realised she was blushing a little so she quickly got back to distracting herself with rummaging around for the key and blaming any feelings of intimacy on alcohol.

 “Found it!” Max called and then mumbled “I think,” as she wasn’t one hundred percent if it was the key, Chloe swivelled herself around to face Max.

 “That’s it!” Chloe proclaimed as she bent down to see it. It was a moment of victory for the two women, perhaps the first victorious moment this night. Max and Chloe leapt down onto the street and raced to the car door. Chloe tore the door of her car open as soon as it was unlocked and quickly unlocked the passenger door for Max who flew into the seat and out of the rain.

 “If I didn’t look ready for a fancy exhibition before, I certainly don’t now,” Max muttered as she caught a look at herself and her wet clothing in the car mirror.

 “You can borrow some of my clothes,” Chloe offered, then kicked herself because she had no idea why she was offering a stranger her clothing. She must’ve been extremely committed to getting invited to this fancy art exhibition. She supposed part of it was her awareness that it was just the sort of thing that Rachel would love to attend and so then when she ultimately had to face reality tomorrow and watch Rachel pack her things and go, she could at least shove the fact that she’d spent her night at a really fancy party in her face and have the satisfaction of knowing it wasn’t a lie.

 Max paused for a second, considering Chloe’s offer, but a flashback to ten or so minutes ago lead to her remembering that Chloe’s clothing was mixed in with her underwear and possibly a vibrator so she decided to decline the offer.

 “Don’t worry, my clothes will probably dry,” Max replied.

 “Your loss,” Chloe teased as she put her car keys into the ignition and began to make her way towards the centre of the city.

 The car was silent, mostly. Chloe had turned on some music to fill the somewhat awkward silence but as soon as the first song played she realised that this was her ‘Rachel’ mixtape so she quickly changed to the radio. Max figured that the abrupt changeover had something to do with the break up that Chloe mentioned she was mourning.

 The first station was cribgeworthy. It had an obnoxious DJ who used far more sound effects than necessary and played shitty music so Chloe changed the channel immediately. All the stations seemed to be playing the worst music tonight and so Chloe ended up focusing more on the radio than the road, a feat Chloe could have easily pulled off sober or at a slower speed.

 “Watch out!” Max yelled and Chloe looked up just in time to avoid driving straight into oncoming traffic. The car that had nearly impacted into hers had to perform a sharp, tire-screeching swerve; the driver honked in noisy fury as they speed off. Chloe flipped the driver off but they probably couldn’t see it which was probably for the best.

 “Maybe you should manage the radio while I manage the road,” Chloe chuckled trying to play off the situation like it hadn’t happened.

 “That’s fine with me,” Max replied and began flicking through the stations.

 “Yeah, just don’t put anything shitty on please. The music at that bar was bad enough,” Chloe chimed in as she began to make a better executed turn on to the road.

 “I have great taste in music,” Max asserted. Chloe felt like explaining that everyone would think they had great taste in music because if something was to someones taste that meant they enjoyed it. Chloe thought all the music she considered to be her taste was great but when Justin would listen to her music collection he would enjoy the punk and grunge tracks but complain about the surrealist electro indie and riot girl tracks peppered in. Max seemed to be equally critical about the music stations but somewhat more open-minded, listening to the tracks for about ten seconds and weighing up whether she thought she’d enjoy the song or not.

 After getting so far through the list of stations that she ended up in the section devoted primarily to people discussing forecasts for the free market Max leaned against the window and sighed. The sound of rain hitting the glass was at least relaxing. Chloe was distracted with trying to focus on the road whilst drunk. Max started thinking back to the CD Chloe had hastily switched off as soon as it began playing. It was probably a gift from her ex or a tracklist that reminded her of 'him' (Max assumed). Max wondered what kind of person Chloe dated, what kind of music Chloe listened to. All Max knew about the woman she was sat in the car with was that she drank beer, drove quickly and disregarded danger.

 Without thinking about it Max turned the CD back on. The music on it was actually pretty good, it was a little heavier than Max’s usual taste but softer than a lot of punk rock without being pop punk. Chloe hadn’t realised that Max had turned the CD on at first. When she did, she immediately turned it back off.

 “Maybe we should just not listen to music, maybe,” Chloe concluded and then looked back at the road coldly.

 “Sorry,” Max mumbled, looking at her feet. Chloe didn’t respond and kept her eyes on the road.

 “Is the CD from your ex or…?” Max inquired and then withered internally, wishing she were somehow capable of making herself not publicise every query that popped itself into her head to fill tense silences. Chloe’s response was to eject the disk, roll down the window and throw it out the car.

 Before Chloe could say “There, now we have nothing to talk about,” she was cut off by someone exclaiming an “Ow”. She and Max both stopped and then looked out Chloe’s window to see a disgruntled girl with purple hair glaring at them.

 “Um,” was the only response Chloe could come up with.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *bed = the backpart of a pickup truck you put your garbage in.


End file.
